1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera equipped with a magnetic head for reading magnetically recorded information from a magnetic recording area of a photographic film.
2. Related Background Art
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,037 discloses a technology of providing a magnetic member as a magnetic recording area on a photographic film, magnetically recording various information (such as film sensitivity, number of image frames etc.) on said magnetic member, and reading said recorded information when said film is loaded in a camera. Said camera is equipped with a magnetic head which can be brought into contact with the magnetic recording area of said film, and reads the information by contacting said magnetic head with the magnetic recording area in the course of feeding of said film.
On the other hand, there is already known a camera capable of so-called pre-winding operation, in which the film housed in a film cartridge is all taken up on a film winding spool prior to the photo-taking operations, and is then rewound into said film cartridge by one frame at each phototaking operation. In case the above-mentioned magnetic head is provided in such camera, the information reading may be conducted at the pre-winding operation explained above.
The above-mentioned magnetic recording area is provided along the longitudinal direction of the film, and the magnetically recorded information, composed for example of the film sensitivity, number of image frames, film latitude etc. as a set, is usually recorded in consecutive plural sets, in order to enable secure information fetching by repeating the reading operation even if the information reading failed at a film feeding.
However, in such camera conducting the pre-winding operation, if the magnetic head is maintained in contact with the magnetic recording area of the film from the start to the end of said pre-winding operation, the magnetic head is abraded severely and the service life thereof becomes significantly shortened.